SHIRDI SAI BABA Location : Shirdi, Town of Ahmadnagar District, Maharashtra Living Legend : Holy Lord Shirdi Sai Baba Known World Wide As : Pilgrimage Destination for Devotees of Sai Baba Spiritual Day : On Thursday Palki (Baba's Carriage) is taken out of temple in a procession

Shirdi Sai Baba - Still A Living Legend

Pilgrimage Festive Nights

Ganesh Chaturthi Transport

Holy City of Nasik

Shirdi Sai Baba

The legend for the legends, Shirdi Sai Baba is one of the greatest saints ever to be born on the soil of India. There is little information about his birth, place of birth and parentage, Sai spent most of his life in the service of people at Shirdi. This fakir is famous for his simple life style and the helping hand he forwarded to people without any consideration of religion, caste, creed and color. To him there was no difference between the queen and the beggar woman. It is right to say that nobody has left empty-handed after visiting Sai Baba. The people visited him for health, wealth, power, honor and for what ever they where in need of, but Sai fulfilled their wishes by miracles and when needed advice was the handy tool.

Sai Baba and Shirdi - As Lord and His Abode

Looking the most ordinary person in appearance, Sai Baba was the most holy soul on this earth. This simple man with its extra ordinary divine virtues was the most simple figure always found in his long Kafani (long Kurta) and a turban around his head. He always used sackcloth for sitting and sleeping and a brick as a pillow. During his earlier times Baba used to sit under the Neem tree and preach his sermons to the general public but later he shifted to mosque and called it Dwarkamayi. The fire he lit some 100 years ago is still burning and the ash produced is collected twice a day and distributed among the devotees. This fire is called 'Dhuni' and the ash produced is called 'Udi'. These all things have there importance for the devotees who come from far and wide to pay homage to the descended god who left by his will to the heavenly abode in 1918.

Sai Baba as a 16 year old lad with abundant maturity, spent most of his time under the Neem tree seated in Asana (a Yoga posture), always practicing hard penance braving the scorching sun and chilling cold. Baba stayed at Shirdi till the last days of his life. Today there are many temples and other places that are associated with the Sai and are thronged by the devotees throughout the year. Famous of them are Samadhi Mandir - the temple and the stone statue of Shirdi Baba; Dwarkamayi - The mosque where Baba preached the lessons of self realization; Gurusthan- the Neem tree where the sage was first spotted and Lendi Baug - a waste land turned to rose garden by Sai Baba.

Baba's Miracles

Shirdi Sai Baba Temple

Baba had made it a point that no one will leave his place empty handed so sometimes he had to do miracles to fulfill the needs of the poor, sick, destitute and all the people who are in need of one or the other thing. It is a famous story in Shirdi that how Sai lit the earthenware lights with water when the grocers refused to give oil for lamps to light the mosque. And the story of the blind person whose vision was restored by the Baba. After all it was the pure service of the humanity that Baba believed to be the best way a person can reach to his God.

Sai Teaching - A Symbol of Harmony

The stay of Baba at Shirdi was a beginning of revolution in it self. People from all the faiths attended Sai's lectures and it was the time where there was no place for caste system in the society or people can be differentiated on the basis of religion. Even today it is a routine that people from all religions visit this place to pay their obeisance to this fakir. To Hindus this sage was the incarnation of god who came to this earth in the form of orthodox Brahmin with the sacred fire and worshiped gods and read Hindu Scriptures. To Muslims he was a pious saint who lived in the mosque and followed the disciplines of Islam and uttered Allah Malik (Allah is the Master) to Parsi's he was the priest who was the worshiper of the sacred fire. To all religions he was the prophet and hence a symbol of unity. To enlighten your self with the spiritual enlightenment visit the shrine of Shirdi Baba and you will feel the essence of Sai around you.

Reaching the Blessed Place

Shirdi is the important place for every pilgrim and it is a must for every one to visit this place to attain the spiritual nirvana. Well connected with the other cities this developed town has the nearest station at Manmad 58 kilometers away. By road transport this town is just 83 kilometers from Ahmadnagar, 90 Km from Nasik and 266 Km from Mumbai. The temple is opened for the devotees at 5.30 a..m and remains opened till 10 at night. On Thursday procession of palki (Baba's carriage) and the Padukas (Baba's sleepers) are taken out from the temple. And on the holidays like Ramnavami (March/ April) Guru Purnima (July) and Vijaydarshin (Sep) the temple remains opened for the devotees through out the night.